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Atlantic Transcontinental Airlines
History Atlantic Transcontinental Airlines S.A. '''(commonly referred to as '''Atlantic Airlines, AtlantAir, or ATA) was a major French transcontinental airline from 4 July, 1937, to 1 January, 1991. It's original founding name was Paris & Southern France Airlines and it operated routes from it's main hub in Paris Orly International Airport and Le Bourget Airport, to destinations in the southern region of France, such as Marseille, Bordaeux and Toulouse with Breguet 393T aircraft. After World War II, Paris & Southern France Airlines, bought 6 smaller airlines and 5 American made Douglas DC-3 aircraft, expanding their fleet and size. In 1951 after buying several DC-6s they sold their Breguet 393T's and started operating routes between Paris Orly, Germany, Spain, England and Italy. They also changed there name to Paris International Airlines. In 1958 Paris International Airlines bought 4 Boeing 707 aircraft and 2 Douglas DC-8 aircraft, and started operating transatlantic routes between Paris, New York and Miami. The airline was now a big player in the International Market. Paris International Airlines then later that year, changed their name again, now to Atlantic Transcontinental Airlines. They also ordered 16 more Boeing 707s and 4 more DC-8s. In 1966 decided to start a low-cost airline called FrenchAir, which operated short to medium-haul flights within Europe, mainly with Boeing 720B's but also with a few Boeing 727's. Their low-cost airline started operations on the 7 May 1967. In 1967 Atlantic Transcontinental Airlines was givin the nickname ATA and bought 20 more Boeing 707's and 5 more Douglas DC-8s expanding their fleet. They also, in 1970, started replacing their 727s with the Douglas DC-9's, but later sold them and continued with the 727's. The 720B's was though sold and replaced with more 727s and with the new 737-200s. In 1975 Orders were placed on 25 Boeing 737-200s and 10 Douglas DC-9 to replace the 727's currently in use for the low-cost airline, 12 (later 2 more) Boeing 747-100s, 7 (later 18 more) Boeing 747-200s and 5 (later 19 more) McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s. In 1976 the first 747-100 flew from Paris Orly to New York and the first DC-10 flew from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle to Los Angeles non-stop. The airline also later that year moved headquarters to the new Paris Charles-de-Gaulle International Airport and they quickly realised that they didn't have hubs outside of France and quickly began to build hubs around the world in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Moscow and Shanghai. ATA now started buying more of these aircraft. In the early months of 1977 ATA made a cargo airline called Atlantic Transcontinental Cargo Airlines (ATCA), with 10 newly ordered Boeing 747-200F's and 14 McDonnell-Douglas MD-11F's and started operating cargo routes to the middle-east and asia from Paris. Later the same year, ATA became the national carrier and flagship carrier of France. In 1981 Atlantic Transcontinental Cargo Airlines was sold to Global Freightways, and ATA sold their 747-100 models and bought the newer 747-300, though only 3 where delivered. ATA now one of the biggest airlines in the world, with new destination, such as Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Austin, San Fransisco, Los Angeles and many others. They now operated routes all over the world. Also they bought 71 Boeing 737-200s and 50 Douglas DC-9 aircraft to operate the smaller routes, within other countries. In 1983 ATA bought 21 new Boeing 757-200 aircraft, 15 new 767-200 and 30 new 767-300ER airplanes. The same year the airlines was also targeted by terrosists, resulting in the crash of ATA Flight 70 from Paris Charles-de-Gualle to Mexico City via Miami. They also bought more 737-200s, the same year, for their low-cost airline. In 1985 they bought ScandiAir, which was the biggest airline in Scandinavia, Hamburg Airlines, a major German operator and expanded all over Europe. The Airlines got very popular in the Europe and American regions, and ATA even had plans to make their own terminal building at New York JFK, Tokyo Narita, and Paris Charles-de-Gaulle but the plans where never completed. Though the terminal at Paris CDG, was undergoing construction, the airline ran out of money and they got very desperate. In 1988 ATA began, in an attempt to gain money, operating around the Europe area with the new Airbus A320s, which was a major succes and the airline gained some money. But lost it, due to an accident, and sold their A320's only one year after entering service. In 1989 they sold their low-cost airline, now jetFrance, to Pacifica Airlines and sold their remaining fleet of Douglas DC-8. The airline was gaining money again and ATA had already big plans for the future. They joined boeing in an effort to build the new series of Boeing 747-400s and they sold their DC-10s to get the newer MD-11. But in 1991 Frances national airline and flagship carrier, on the 1 August, 1991, filed for bankruptcy and the airline was bought by Pacifica Airlines who later sold it to World Travel Airlines following the collision of Pacifica Airlines flight 142 and Orbit Airlines flight 1330 in San Francisco the following spring. They did though buy it back from World Travel Airlines in 1997. All the ATA hubs were either demolished, or taken over by other companies. Pacifica Airlines, relaunched the low-cost airline, now named Pacifica-jetFrance, but it was called off due to lack of attention from passengers. Fleet Atlantic Transcontinental Airlines FrenchAir '''(jetFrance) '''Pacifica-jetFrance Atlantic Transcontinental Cargo Airlines Accidents and Incidents Category:Atlantic Transcontinental Airlines